It's Not Like That
by choir-freak
Summary: This story is on Hiatus while I edit some stuff and get out of this rut I call writer's block. Sorry for the inconvinience.
1. Chapter 1

**It's Not Like That**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

**A/n** If anyone wants to correct me on any mistakes I make, please feel free to inform me.

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I Didn't Mean to Smell Her Hair

I don't have feelings for Casey. At least not the way people think. Things just keep happening that suggest otherwise. I swear.

Maybe I should start from the beginning. It's all Edwin's fault. Maybe if he wasn't born, I wouldn't be in this situation. I was sleeping at the time, so I'm not exactly sure what happened, but this is pretty much what I get from he told me later on. He had to borrow a lamp for a school project for something or other. Don't ask. I didn't. Anyway, he came into my room to get the lamp and while he was trying to unplug it, he ended up unplugging my alarm clock. Even though he did plug it back in, the stupid clock reset.

So you can pretty much guess what happened. I was late for school. Usually, that wouldn't bother me. I get an extra hour or two of sleep, and I miss my first class. But, unfortunately, the vice principle 'frowns upon missing important classes that will help my future.' His words, not mine.

For punishment, he gave me detention and TOOK AWAY MY IPOD! That's just a sin against all that is holy. I argued, I pleaded. How would I live through the day without it? I don't remember not having an ipod in school. I know there was a time when I didn't, but I don't remember how I got through the day. I had gotten so use to it being around. Sure, I was allowed to pick it up after detention, but that was not the point.

So that day was torture. The minutes seemed to drag on. Casey noticed that I didn't have my ipod of course, and found it highly amusing that someone took it away.

So, later that day, after detention, I headed to the office to get my ipod back. I knocked on the vice principle's door and he called me in. When I asked for it back however, I got some shocking news.

"Casey came by to pick it up for you," he told me. The expression on my face must have changed because he asked, "She is you stepsister, right?"

"Yeah," I said, trying to look like it was perfectly fine for Casey to come by and pick my stuff up for me. "See you around." And I ran from the office.

At home, I ran upstairs, not saying anything back when Marti cried, "SMEREK!"

"Everything alright," Nora asked as I wizzed past her.

"Yeah," I called down the stairs, "Everything's just fine."

I knocked on Casey's door and waited impatiently for her to open the door. She finally did and smiled brightly at me.

"Yes Derek?" She asked in a sweet voice. I pushed past her into her room.

"Where's my ipod?" I started searching her desk.

"Hey," she said, pushing me away, "Don't touch my stuff."

"You took my ipod," I told her encrediously. I couldn't believe she was being so hypocriticle.

"That doesn't give you the right to search my room. You just have to ask for it."

"Yeah right," I scoffed. I noticed that she had moved over slightly so she was standing in front of her bookshelves. I walked up to her and tried to move her out of the way without hurting her. She wouldn't move. I could see my ipod on the shelf behind her. I reached for it.

"No," Casey said, pushing my arm out of the way. "I want you to do something for me first."

I laughed. "I'm not doing anything for you."

"Then you don't get your ipod back."

I stared at her without an expression on my face for a few seconds. Then I quickly reached behind her. She reached up to grab my arm but I was expecting that. With my left hand, I grabbed her wrists and with my right I reached behind her and took my ipod. I smelled her hair as I did so. Not on purpose. Her hair just got in the way. I'm serious, stop looking at me like that.

I smirked at her. "Thanks Case," I said, holding up the ipod and walking out of her room.

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Later that night, I was complaining to Sam about Casey. That's when I made the realization. The scent of Casey's hair was familiar.

"And she has the nerve to use my shampoo," I said.

"How do you know she uses you shampoo?"

"I smelled her hair," I answered, without thinking.

"You smelled her hair?" Sam asked. I stopped pacing around my room and looked at him.

That didn't come out right, did it? "I mean, as I inhaled, her hair got in my face."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Right," he said in a voice that made me think he didn't completely believe me, "Well I gotta go. My parents want me home soon."

"Alright," I replied, "I'll see you tomorrow."

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**A/n** This one was kinda short. I'm hoping I'll be able to make them longer. REVIEW!


	2. Tea Party

**A/n **Someone pointed out to me that I misspelled a couple words. Sorry about that. I forgot to use spell check. School started and teachers have a habit of giving out tons of homework in High School. So, if it seems like it's taking forever for me to update, that's why. I will try to write some every night though. I promise.

And I think this will be a Dasey.

Tea Party

After Sam left, I turned on my computer. I logged onto Myspace and started changing some of my settings and IMing some friends. I heard someone coming up the stairs but didn't think much of it. I figured it was just Lizzie or Casey going to her room. I was wrong.

"Derek what are you doing?" someone said behind me. I turned around to see my Dad standing there.

"Nothing," I said, wondering what was so weird about me being on the computer. Then he held up my backpack that I had left downstairs.

"Why aren't you doing your homework?"

"I don't have any," I said, which was a complete lie. I'm in high school. When do teachers ever not give high school students homework?

Apparently dad was thinking the same thing.

He threw my bag to my bed and threatened to ground me if my grades didn't pick up. Stupid school with it's stupid mailing system. If a student gets a bad grade, they will mail the progress report to the student's parents. I hate it. It makes it impossible to avoid getting in trouble for a low grade. But I guess that's kind of the point to the mailing system.

Logging off Myspace, I opened my science book to the right page and started studying the Periodic Table. How could anyone get this memorized? It was a bunch of gibberish. I closed that book and pulled out my History homework. That was so boring. I was supposed to read chapters six and seven and then summarize them. I couldn't even get my mind to stay focused on the page in front of me. I read the same line about a billion times and none of it registered.

"Derek!" I heard Nora call, "Dinner!"

"Finally," I mumbled, throwing (and yes, I do mean throwing) the history book onto the floor. I ran down the stairs. Nora was walking into the dinning room with a plate of garlic bread. I grabbed some and bit into it as I walked around the table to take my usual seat across from Casey.

"You could at least wait until you sit down to start eating," Casey said.

"What difference does it make if I'm sitting down or not?" I asked.

"It's polite to sit down first," she told me as if I should know this already.

I opened my mouth to say something but dad said, "Don't start."

"Fine," I mumbled, sitting down and pulling the bowl of spaghetti towards me.

As I dished out food onto my plate, Nora asked, "Did you do your homework?"

"Uh," I hesitated, "I started it."

"Derek," dad said in a warning voice.

"What? _You_ try memorizing the Periodic table. It's impossible."

Casey rambled off, "Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium, and Francium are Alkali metals. Beryllium, Magne-"

"Alright," I stopped her, "Showoff. Let me correct myself. No one from this planet could memorize the Periodic table."

"Anyone can memorize it," Casey argued, "You just have to apply yourself."

I hate the word _apply_.

"Casey's right Derek," dad said. That's just great. My father was taking her side. I looked over at Edwin and Lizzie. They were looking bored with the conversation.

"What do you two think?" I asked them, hoping for someone to take my side.

"Casey could tutor you," Lizzie suggested.

"Yeah, right," I laughed, "That'll happen."

"Actually Derek," dad said, "That's not a bad idea."

"No," Casey argued, "I have my own homework I have to do. And I've already had to cancel my plans with Emily this Saturday. I'm not going to cancel again to tutor _Derek_."

"You could help Derek while you baby-sit," Nora said, "Edwin, Lizzie and Marti aren't that much of a handful."

It was my turn to argue. "I have hockey practice this Saturday."

"You won't have to worry about hockey practice if you don't get your grades up," dad told me.

Unfortunately, he was right.

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So that Saturday I had my books layed out across the coffee table with Casey talking away about something or other. I think she was talking about history but I'm not entirely sure. I was sitting back on the couch, trying to balance my pencil on my nose. It wasn't working out so well.

"So then Washington…" I looked at her when she stopped talking.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you listening to a word I'm saying?" she asked.

"Of course I am."

"What was I just talking about?"

"George Washington," I told her. I was so glad I had been listening to her last half sentence.

She picked up one of my notebooks and hit me over the head with it. "I was talking about the _state_ Washington."

Oops.

"I was close," I said.

She glared at me then pulled out another textbook. I eyed it thinking that she was going to hit me with that this time. She didn't.

"We're gonna work on English now. So you have to pay attention," she told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because," she opened the book and flipped to the right page before tipping it up so I couldn't see what it said, "You have to tell me the definitions of words. Transgenic."

"What did you just call me?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "Define the word."

"Oh," I thought about it. What _was_ transgenic? "I have no idea," I admitted.

"It is, 'Of relating to, or being an organism whose _blah blah blah blah_'."

That's pretty much all I heard because the rest of the words in the definition would have to be looked up to actually understand it.

I stared at her blankly as she read off the definition to me. When she was done, she looked up at me.

"Thanks Case," I said, standing up, "I'll remember that." I started walking away but she grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down onto the couch.

"We're not even close to being finished."

"Smerek," Marti said, coming up behind the couch.

"Hey Smarti," I said, lifting her up and over the back of the sofa so she was sitting between Casey and I.

"Smerek, will you play tea party with me?" Marti asked.

Now this was a difficult question. Did I want to go dress up and play tea party with my little sister or did I want to stay downstairs and study with Casey?

"Of course I'll play with you," I said.

"No," Casey argued, "You won't. We have to finish this." She held up the English book.

"Please Casey?" Marti said. She gave Casey a look that I knew was impossible to say no to. Well, usually impossible. I can be immune to it sometimes. Sometimes being the key word there.

"Fine," Casey rolled her eyes.

Marti pulled me upstairs with her. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to study anymore.

Then Casey called, "I'll bring the book. We can study while you're playing dress up."

I scowled. "I'm not playing dress up. I'm playing tea party."

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Of course to my advantage we weren't able to concentrate on studying. We kept getting interrupted by Marti. Actually, Casey kept getting interrupted by Marti. I wasn't paying any attention.

Somehow, Marti had gotten lemonade and cookies to her room. They were really tasty Chips Ahoy cookies. That has nothing to do with the story. I just thought I'd mention it.

We were halfway through the tea party when Edwin came upstairs bouncing a tennis ball. Somehow, he lost control of it and it bounced into Marti's open door. The table we were sitting at wasn't very high off the ground, just a few inches maybe. So, when the ball came bouncing in, it knocked over the lemonade pitcher. Casey lunged for it.

Let's hit the pause button here, shall we? I'm going to explain our seating arrangement. I was sitting on one side, with Marti across from me. Casey was on my left, with her back to the door. The plate of cookies were in the middle of the table with no room left for the lemonade, so I had put it on my right, being careful not to spill it.

Let's unpause. Casey lunged for the lemonade pitcher. She caught it, but lost her balance and fell on me. After that I really wished she hadn't caught the lemonade since it spilled on me.

"Get off," I told her. She quickly scrambled to her feet. I stood up too and turned on Edwin. "What did you do, throw the ball at the table?" I asked him.

"I said, 'Think fast,'" Edwin defended himself.

It hit him over the head and went to my room to get a change of clothes so I could shower. On my way to the bathroom, I ran into Casey.

"What are you doing?" I asked, eyeing the clothes in her arms.

"I'm taking a shower," she said, "You're not the only one who got covered with lemonade."

I looked her up and down. She did have some lemonade on her. "How did you manage that?"

She shrugged, "I don't know." Then she started towards the bathroom. I stopped her.

"No," I said, "I'm taking a shower first."

"What ever happened to women first?" she asked.

I scoffed. "Please Casey," I said, "That went out so long ago."

"No," Casey argued, "You're just rude."

I opened my mouth to speak when she sprinted off to the bathroom. I chased after her. She almost had the door closed when I grabbed it and stopped it from closing.

"I beat you here," she said. "Just let me take my shower."

I realized that I had dropped my things down the hall so I would have to go back and get them anyway and by then she would have locked the door. I rolled my eyes, annoyed. Then I let the door close.

Casey came out about half an hour later.

"Finally," I said, hurrying to the bathroom. "I hope you didn't use my shampoo again."

"How did you know I used your shampoo?" she asked. I turned and saw her staring at me, confused.

"My shampoo has a different scent than yours, Casey," I told her.

"Are you saying you smelled my hair?"

I should really start explaining the real story before I let people make their own assumptions.

"Your hair got in my face as I inhaled," I explained.

"Right," she said. She was looking at me like I had just spoken French.

"I'm not lying," I said. She nodded. "That would mean I like you," I rambled on, "And I don't. That would be like incest."

"I know," she said and turned to go to her room. I opened my mouth to try to say something that would convince her I was telling the truth but she closed her door before I could say anything.

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**A/n** In the next chapter, there will be something else to make people think Derek likes Casey. REVIEW!


	3. Double Date

**_A/N_** At first, this will seem like a not Dasey fic but I promise it will be. PLEASE just be patient with the story. I know what I'm doing.

Double Date

After a couple days I decided I wanted to say something to Casey to make sure that she knew I didn't like her. I just couldn't stop thinking about that. Every time Casey and I were in the same room, I wanted to say something so show that I still liked to give her a hard time. It's a lot harder to annoy someone when you're trying too hard to do it.

So, at school I decided to ask out a girl. That would prove I didn't like her. There was a new girl in the school. Her name was Katie. She was a blonde but not like a lot of slutty blondes at school. It was different. She was kind of shy as I talked to her but not too shy. It was nice, actually.

"So," I asked, "Do you want to go out with me tonight?"

She smiled. "I would really like too," she said, "But my parents won't let me unless I double date with my brother, and he doesn't have a girlfriend."

"No problem," I said without thinking. "I can get my stepsister to go out with him."

"Great," Katie sounded happy, "Then I'll see you around six?" I nodded and Katie gave me directions to her house.

After she walked off I realized my mistake. Casey wouldn't want to go on a double date with me. I looked around and saw her by her locker. I quickly walked up to her.

"Casey," I said a little louder than I meant too.

She jumped and turned to look at me, obviously not very happy. "What?" she snapped.

"I need you to do me a favor," I said. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"What makes you think I would do that?" she asked.

"Well," I explained, trying to sound innocent, "I have a date tonight but her parents won't let her go on a date unless it's a double date with her brother so could-"

"No," she interrupted me.

"But-"

"No."

I stared at her, trying to look hurt that she wouldn't do her stepbrother a small favor. She didn't fall for it. The bell rang and she walked off to class.

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At lunch, I decided I needed someone else to convince her for me.

"Hey Emily."

Emily turned to look at me. I had found her coming out of the gym, probably on her way to the cafeteria to meet Casey.

She smiled. "Hi Derek," she said.

"Walk with me," I said, starting for the cafeteria, walking slowly.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I need a favor."

"Oh?" I looked at Emily she looked slightly pleased.

I nodded. "I'm really horrible at convincing Casey to do anything for me. I asked her already and she turned me down." I didn't mention how I had only asked her once.

"So you want me to talk to her," Emily finished. She's a smart girl sometimes. "About what?"

"I want her to go on a date with me," I said. I noticed that she wasn't walking with me after I said that. I stopped and turned around.

"You want her to go out with you?" she asked.

Not again.

"No," I tried to laugh to make it sound like it was just a misunderstanding, which it was. But the laugh just sounded like I was caught doing something I wasn't suppose to be doing. "I mean go on a double date with me. I'm going out with another girl and I need her to go on the date with me."

She looked confused and I could understand why. I wasn't making much sense.

"Let me start from the beginning," I said. I told her about Katie and needing to go on a double date. Of course I didn't mention the day before with the misunderstanding. That would be imbarresing.

"Sure," Emily said, nodding. "I can talk to Casey for you."

"Thanks," I said. "Well, I have to go. See you around." I walked past her to the lunchroom.

After school, I sat in my room playing on the computer with one of my schoolbooks open so if someone knocked I could pretend to be doing homework.

The door banged open without notice. I quickly scrambled to pick up my science book and looked up to see who had come in. It was just Casey.

"I can't believe you," she said.

"What?" I asked, calming down and putting my science book back on my desk.

"You had to ask my best friend to convince me to go on a double date with you."

"Well you weren't about to listen to me."

"I didn't want to do you a favor," Casey told me, "It wasn't about who asked."

"Casey," I said softly, "Please." I stood up and walked around my desk towards her, putting on my best 'pleading' face. "Just do me this favor."

She crossed her arms over her chest and avoided looking at me. That was a good sign. That meant she was falling for it.

"Fine," she finally mumbled. I grinned.

"Great," I said, "Now could you excuse me? I have to get ready. We're leaving at six thirty." I pushed her out the door with her looking like she regretted agreeing to go.

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"Case, let's go!" I yelled up the stairs, tapping my foot impatiently.

"I'm coming," she said before walking down the stairs. She was wearing a light blue sweater and black jeans. Her hair was pulled up in a pony tail. She looked good actually. Quote me on that and I'll deny it.

"What?" she asked, looking at herself. I realized I had been staring at her. Oops.

"Nothing," I said quickly, "Just surprised you couldn't dress up in something nicer since you're going on a date." I didn't mean that. She looked fine since we were just going out for pizza. But it wouldn't be a good idea to let her know I thought she looked good seeing as she thought I smelled her hair a few days earlier.

"Derek," she said, rolling her eyes, "I didn't even want to come, so why would I try to impress Katie's brother?"

"It's polite," I told her, mocking her voice.

She sighed then called, "We're leaving now. Bye mom." Then I followed her outside to the car.

The restaurant wasn't too crowded, probably because it was a school night. There were several couples who looked like they were from High School but I didn't recognize them. There was a large family in the corner booth and several booths and tables open.

"Where would you like to sit?" I asked Katie.

"Over there," Josh, her brother, answered for her. I looked at him. He was pointing to a booth in the back.

I shrugged to show I didn't car. "That's fine with me."

I sat by the wall. Katie had wanted to sit across from me so she could look at me while we talked. That left Casey to sit next to me and Josh sitting across from Casey.

Throughout dinner Katie and I talked quiet a bit but I noticed that Casey and Josh weren't getting along very much. They didn't even _try_ to get along. They just kind of sat there and glanced at each other every once and a while. It almost looked like Casey was gonna cry, which made me feel kinda bad. She had her elbow on the table and covered her mouth with her hand. I kept looking at her worriedly but couldn't catch her eye. I paid all my attention to Katie when she seemed to get annoyed that I kept looking at my stepsister.

After dinner, I drove Katie and Josh home.

"I'll be right back," I told Casey as I walked Katie to her door. Josh had gone ahead to go inside.

"This was fun," Katie said. I nodded.

"Yeah, it was." We both stopped at her front door. I could tell she was expecting a kiss. I leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. It lasted all of two seconds before we heard banging. We looked over to see Josh looking out the window at Katie, pointing at his watch. I checked my own.

"It's getting late," I said, "I better go."

"Yeah," she agreed, looking slightly disappointed, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely," I agreed. She smiled. I kissed her one more time.

"Good night, Derek," she said.

"Good night Casey."

She took a step back. "What did you just say?"

I thought about it and my eyes went wide when I realized my mistake.

"Not Casey," I corrected, "Katie. You know they sound so alike…"

I stopped talking as Katie nodded disbelievingly. She didn't look happy and I could tell why.

"Bye," she said shortly, walking inside. I tried to explain but she had already closed the door on me.

I walked back to the car, trying to look like everything was normal. Casey didn't notice anyway.

"Josh is so nice," she said when I got back in the car.

"What?" I asked.

"I had the best time. And I was trying so hard not to laugh."

"He didn't say anything," I pointed out in a toneless voice.

"Yes he did," Casey told me, smiling, "He just doesn't talk as loud as Katie."

I rolled my eyes and started the car.

On the way home, I thought about the last conversation I had with Katie. It was so stupid to mix up those two names. But understandable. The names rhyme. Casey, Katie. Katie, Casey. How could Katie get upset about that? Anyone could have made that mistake.

…Right?


	4. Denile

I'll admit I was worried Katie would tell everybody what happened. I can see it now, the whole school talking about how Derek Venturi said his sisters name while telling his date good night. Everyone would overlook the fact that she my _step_sister.

I didn't say anything to Casey on the way home. She noticed.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

I stopped with one foot on the bottom stair. I turned to look at her. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Did Katie dump you or something?" I could tell she asked it as a joke. Ha, ha.

"Something like that," I answered before running up the stairs to my room. I pressed play on my stereo. Panic! At the Disco started playing. I flopped down on my bed. I couldn't believe I said Casey's name. That must have been the stupidest thing I had ever done.

_Why_ would I say her name? I didn't have feelings for her. It didn't make sense. Casey is just _Casey_. Katie didn't even let me explain that to her. I don't think she would understand it anyway. _I_ barely understood it. I think I said 'Casey' because it was just unusual for her to be around while I'm on a date so I had seen her more that night then usual. And my conscience was telling me to hurry up because Casey was still waiting in the car. That's why she was on my mind. It has _nothing_ to do with any _feelings_ for Casey. She is attractive, I'll admit that. It's no secret, but she is also my stepsister. She's part of the family. Sort of.

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The next day at school went by pretty slowly. I kept expecting someone to come up to me and say I was gross or something because I said Casey's name. Nothing of the sort happened though, which was good.

At the end of the day, I was on my way to my locker to drop off my books when I saw Casey talking with Josh. I didn't think much of it until Josh saw me. He pointed to me and Casey turned to glare at me. That's when I made the realization. Josh is Katie's brother. Josh and Katie get along. Katie probably told Josh what happened and now Josh was telling Casey.

Crap.

As Casey started walking towards me, I freaked. I turned around and ran back the way I came from. Of course, Casey had already seen which way I went, but I had a safe haven to go to.

The boy's bathroom.

I looked to the left as I ran into the bathroom to make sure Casey's hadn't caught up yet. She hadn't, which was good.

I threw my bag near the wall on the opposite side of the door and leaned against the same wall. I was the only one in there, but I could still here everybody walking by and talking on the other side of the door. I didn't have a plan. Should I sneak out and hope Casey didn't see me until I got home? Should I wait until everybody else had left and then leave? What was I going to do at home? She lived with me. There was no way to avoid her.

I decided it was best to just wait for a while and then leave. That was the best chance I had of avoiding Casey for the longest time possible.

I sat down and pulled my bag closer to me. I pulled out my ipod and homework for biology. I wasn't planning on doing the homework but there was nothing else to do. It really wasn't that hard. All the answers were right there in the book, word for word. What was this supposed to be teaching me if I just had to copy what the book said?

Anyway, about half an hour later, it was all quiet. There was no sound except for a few footsteps on the other side of the door. But of course that was the janitor. Our school is always a mess after everybody goes home. There are about five janitors at our school, which is kinda sad since it's such a big school.

I put my ipod and homework in my bag and slung it over my shoulder as I left the bathroom. There was no one in the hall but I didn't care. I was just concentrating on leaving. As I was halfway down the hall, someone behind me said, "Derek!" I didn't want to turn around. The voice was too familiar.

Three guesses who it was.

I turned around. "Hi Case," I said as coolly as I could manage.

"Could you explain to me what you were thinking?" she asked.

"What?" It was the first thing that came to mind. Play dumb.

She rolled her eyes. "You know what I'm talking about," she said, "You said my name."

"When?"

"Last night." She seemed uncomfortable about saying what happened. That was working in my favor.

"Yeah," I said, "I said your name a few times last night. Especially when I couldn't get you to hurry up when we had to leave. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get to Sam's. We have a project to work on." I turned to leave. Casey called after me but I just walked quicker. I was expecting her to stop me but she let me go surprisingly.

The second I turned the corner and was out of sight of Casey, I broke into a run. I started towards Sam's house, but decided I didn't want to see him at the moment. He would ask why I was there and I didn't think he would be happy about me saying his ex-girlfriends name while saying good night to my date. So I went home. I really didn't want people to know I was there. They would tell Casey if she asked and she would go up to my room and then there would be no where for me to go. I would have to face her, which I didn't want to do. So when I got to my house, I climbed up the tree near my window. As I was passing the living room window, Marti saw me.

I put one finger to my lips as if to say "Shh." Marti understood and nodded.

I kept climbing. When I reached my room, I realized my mistake. My window was locked. When Nora moved in, she let us know she was paranoid about burglars getting in through windows so she said we had to lock them. I rested my head against the glass and closed my eyes. I remember that being the longest day of my life. I just wanted to lie on my bed and sleep for the next four days. Of course that wasn't possible though.

I heard a click and opened my eyes. The window started moving and I looked up. I couldn't see who was in my room at first. I hoped it was Marti. No such luck. It was Casey.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Leaving," I said, and started turning around to go back down the tree.

"Derek, get in here," Casey said it in such a forceful way I didn't want to argue. I slowly climbed into my room with Casey standing close by. "I thought you were going to Sam's."

"What are you doing in my room," I avoided answering her.

"Don't change the subject," she ordered.

"Fine," I sighed, "I changed my mind, alright?"

"Good," Casey nodded, "Now we can talk." I dropped my bag on the floor and walked over to my desk chair.

"Get out," I said. She just took a few steps closer to me.

"Derek, you said my name last night when you were telling Katie good bye. I want to know why."

I looked over at her, annoyed. "I didn't say your name last night."

"Josh told me that Katie told him to tell me that you told her, 'Good night Casey.'"

"I'll pretend that made sense," I said, clicking on the internet icon on the computer screen.

"You know what I'm talking about," Casey practically yelled. I jumped and turned my chair so I was facing her. I think it's safe to say she looked mad.

I had to look up to be able to look her in the face since I was sitting and she was still standing. I didn't like being shorter than her so I stood. That was a mistake. When I was standing, I was a few inches in front of her, so I had to look down to look her in the face. The only times I had ever been that close to a girl was when I was about to kiss them.

So, out of _habit_ I leaned in closer to her. Only a few centimeters, if that, but Casey noticed. She took a couple steps back.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"What are _you_ doing?" I threw back at her.

I know smooth right?

There was silence between the two of us. She looked like she was trying to figure out a very complicated mathematical equation. I decided to say something to her to break the silence.

"I didn't say your name," was the first thing that came out. She looked at me like she just realized I was there. "I said Katie," I continued, "It just _sounds_ like Casey."

I don't know if she believed me.

"So get over yourself," I finished rudely. I pushed her out of my room with her looking like she wanted to smack me and I locked my door.

I sat on my chair again but didn't really want to do anything. I just sat there, trying to convince myself that what I told Casey was the truth. I had really said Katie but it sounded like Casey. Thinking back, I really _did_ say Katie. Katie thought I said Casey so _I_ thought I said Casey, but I didn't. I said Katie.

But what if I really _had_ said Casey? Does that mean I like her? Does it mean I had wished I was saying good night to _Casey_? My eyes widened at the thought.

_Bling_

I was pulled out of my thoughts with an instant message. It was Sam.

_Spam_: Hey

I stared at the message on the screen, not knowing how to respond to that. Sam was my best friend so naturally, you would think I would tell him about this whole I-might-have-a-crush-on-my-stepsister thing. But Sam was also Casey's ex. He always denied it, but I knew he still liked Casey.

I decided on a simple response.

_Hockeydv_: Hey

I wouldn't tell him about my suspisions. I wouldn't tell _anyone_ about my suspisions. They didn't mean anything anyway. I would completely forget about them in the morning. It's just a stupid idea. Maybe I'll write a book.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

**A/n** Soooooooo, tell me what you think. I LIVE off reviews.

**_REVIEW_**

**_Press the Little Purple Button_**


	5. Being Avoided

**A/n** I don't know what their English teacher's name is or if it's a girl or a boy. In the episode "Grade Point Average", it shows the teacher being a man, but at the end it's a woman. I know, confusing right? Also, I'm doing a little test thingy. When you review, put this in there, "cat in the hat". I'm gonna see how many people actually read the author's note.

Being Avoided

After that, Casey started avoiding me. When I went down for dinner, she barely looked at me and went up to her room the second she was done, mumbling something about homework. I'm not saying that I was hurt by it or anything. I'm just saying she probably thinks she figured something out. I'm going to find out what's wrong. Not that I care. I'm just afraid she might suspect the same thing that _I_ suspect.

That I might like her.

I pushed the idea out of my mind as I reached across Edwin's plate for the rolls. As I set my roll on my plate, I felt something uncomfortably wet on the bottom of my arm. I looked down to see macaroni and cheese on my shirt sleeve.

"Edwin," I said, grabbing a napkin to clean it up, "You got your food on my shirt."

"You got your shirt in my food," he told me. I glared at him and he went back to eating like nothing had happened.

I gave up on trying too clean my shirt. It wasn't coming off. "I'll be right back," I announced to the table and got up to go to my room. I quietly walked past Casey's room to go to my own.

I pulled my shirt off over my head and opened my shirt drawer to pick out another one. Before I could even unfold it, my door opened and Casey walked in. I looked up at her.

She jumped and stared at me without a shirt on. "Sorry," she said quickly when she realized what she was doing. She covered her eyes with her hand. I laughed at her. She looked so uncomfortable and it was kind of cute. 'Kind of' being the key term there. "Um," Casey stuttered, "I-I just came by to drop this off." She held up an object in her hand that I hadn't noticed before. It was a CD. I watched as she tried to set it on my desk without uncovering her eyes. She ended up knocking over a pile of CD's and it made a loud clatter as they hit the floor. "Sorry," she said again, clearly torn between picking up the mess she made and just running. I could see her face turning red under her hand.

I had pity on her and decided not to make her suffer anymore. "Just go," I told her, "I got it." I walked over to the desk to start picking up my things that fell. Casey, with her eyes still covered, went in the wrong direction and ran into me while I was leaning down to pick things up off the floor. She fell of course.

"Ouch," I said, even though it I didn't get hurt at all, "Watch it Klutzilla." I turned to look at her. She was pushing herself up off the floor. I stood up at the same time as her. It was very funny, watching her being uncomfortable around me like that.

I 'accidentally' stepped in front of her as she turned to leave my room. She moved left. So did I. She moved right, and once again so did I. Of course, I made it look like I wasn't doing it on purpose.

"Will you move?" she asked rudely. She was avoiding looking at me. I smirked.

"You're the one getting in my way," I told her. She finally looked up at me. Actually she glared up at me. But whatever.

She started to go left again and as I started stepping in front of her, she put a hand on my shoulder and shoved me to the right. She's a lot stronger than I thought so I wasn't expecting her to actually be able to move me a little. She slipped past me, walking out the door. I smirked as I pulled my shirt over my head and went downstairs to finish my dinner.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Later that night, I was sitting in the living room, playing Babe Raider. It was about ten and nobody knew I was still up. Dad and Nora had gone to bed and I made sure the volume was down low enough so it didn't wake anybody.

"What are you doing up?" I heard a voice behind me. I whirled around quickly and saw Casey standing at the foot of the stairs in her pajamas. Her hair was pulled back like it usually is when she goes to bed and she was looking at me like I was breaking the biggest rule in the house.

"Studying," I said sarcastically. "What about you?"

"I just came down here to get a drink," she told me. I watched as she walked into the kitchen. I couldn't believe she wasn't going to get mad at me for playing a video game so late at night. I followed her.

She was standing by the island in the middle of the kitchen, taking a drink of water from a glass. She looked at me over the rim of the cup. I leaned against the doorframe, staring at her, just waiting for her to start reprimanding me.

Casey put the cup down slowly and looked at me warily. "What?" she asked.

"Just waiting for you to tell me off," I said, careful to keep my voice quiet.

"I wasn't going too," she told me as she put her cup in the sink. She avoided looking at me as she started walking past me. I put my arm out to stop her.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She looked up at me, only meeting my eyes for a second.

"Nothing," she said. She's a terrible liar.

"What's up Case?" I asked, trying not to sound too interested. I was though. I wanted to know what was wrong.

"I'm just tired," and before I could breathe, she ducked under my arm and headed towards the stairs.

I hope she didn't think I was going to let it go. I might have, if she hadn't been acting weird the next morning.

"Can I take the car, dad," I asked as I poured myself some cereal.

"Sure," he answered without looking up from reading something in the paper, "If you give Casey a ride."

I was about to complain so no one suspected anything but Casey beat me to it.

"No," she said quickly, "I don't need a ride. I'll walk with Emily." Who would give up a chance to get a quick and easy ride to school?

"She can come," I told her. She looked over at me and seemed to be thinking about things. About what things, I don't know.

"Fine," she said after a while. She left the kitchen and I heard her walking up the stairs.

I wanted to talk to her when we got to school but she jumped out of the car like it was carrying a plague. I rolled my eyes and got out. I looked around and saw Casey walking in the direction of her counselor's office. That was weird. She doesn't usually go in the morning.

As I was wondering this, I fell. I wasn't watching where I was going and I tripped over the sidewalk. I put my hand out in front of me to catch myself but my chin still hit the hard cement. I jumped up quickly, hoping no one saw that.

"Dude, are you okay," I heard someone ask behind me. I recognized the voice. It was Sam.

"I'm fine," I said, turning around. My hands and chin were stinging but I wasn't going to let it show.

"You're bleeding," he told me. My eyes widened slightly and I felt my chin. As he said, I did have cuts where it was stinging on my chin. "You should probably go to the nurse and get that cleaned up."

I nodded. "Yeah, I will. I'll catch up with you later." And I took off to the nurse's, running as fast as I could so no one would see.

Thankfully, Mrs. Johnson was there. She tisked as I sat down in a chair by a window and she pulled out her first aid kit. She was a sweet woman who always liked to take care of the students at school.

"Look up at me," she told me. I turned my face towards her so I was looking at her face. She was an elderly lady, kind of reminded me of my grandma. She cleaned off my chin with a disinfecting wipe. It stung but I bit my tongue, and no, I did not mean for that to rhyme. When she was done cleaning my chin, she said, "That'll leave a bruise, but it should be fine. Anywhere else?"

I turned my hands palm up to look at them. I didn't think anything was wrong with them but apparently I was wrong. It wasn't as bad as my chin, but my palms were cut up a bit. "I'll be fine," I decided.

"No," Mrs. Johnson said, "I'll get those cuts cleaned up too." She pulled out another disinfecting wipe. I sneered at it, hoping she didn't see. "What happened?"

"Nothing," I answered, shaking my head, "I tripped."

"Yes," Mrs. Johnson said, nodding, "A lot of people have been tripping lately. The recently added some new speed bumpers. Students trip walking across the parking lot." She chuckled slightly. "They're meant to slow down vehicles, not students."

I forced a laugh just to humor her. At least those kids tripped over something that hasn't been there the entire time they've been to this school.

She finished cleaning my hands and dug in her first aid kit. Then she pulled out the thing I had been dreading.

"I don't need one of those," I said, eyeing the giant band-aid in her hand.

"I'm not letting those cuts on your chin get infected."

"They won't," I insisted. The bell rang and I jumped up. "I have to get to class." I ran out of the room quickly and let out a sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to wear a giant skin-colored bandage on my face the entire day. Then I noticed that people were staring at me. That was kind of the reason I didn't want to wear the band-aid. People would stare and think I was a dork. Now they probably think the same thing. Oh well. If I just pretend like nothing's wrong, they will too.

I saw one girl staring at me like it was weird for me to have any injuries. I smirked at her and she blushed and turned to open her locker. That was so much fun.

The hall was starting to empty, which told me that I was running out of time to get my books and get to class. I fast walked the rest of the way to my locker and unlocked my locker. I'm not usually worried about being late for the first class of the day, but my English teacher said if I was late one more time, I would get ISS. ISS stands for In School Suspension. It's where you sit in a room without moving the entire day. You can only move to do your work. No music or anything. Just sitting there.

I know, sucky.

So, I pulled my books out and didn't even bother to close my locker. I just sprinted off in the direction of the classroom. I stepped into the room just as the bell rang.

"So nice of you to join us Mr. Venturi," Mr. Gordon said. I smirked, trying not to look like I was relieved that I wasn't late. "We are getting new seating charts today. Since you're last getting to class, you get to choose your new table last."

I looked at the classroom. I always loved this class. It was completely full. That meant that the teacher wouldn't be paying much attention to me. But now, I noticed that there was only one seat open. That one seat was at the table in front, with Casey and Emily. Sam was at that table too, probably to be around Casey.

I grimaced and sat down in the blue chair. I saw Casey shift uncomfortably out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to look at her and try to catch her eye but she was staring intently at her paper and would only look away to glance at the blackboard. That's when I noticed that Mr. Gordon was writing things on the board. I quickly got out a sheet of paper and copied whatever it was that he was writing. I honestly don't know what I was writing. It was just a bunch of letters to me.

After a while, my hand started cramping up so I stopped writing. I started doing a little thing that I always do in school when I'm bored: tap my pencil. It usually goes along to a little beat too. _Tap, tap,_ pause, _tap, tap, _pause, _taptaptap, _pause, _tap_.

As I started my last tap, Casey reached over and took my pencil. She held it in one hand while she wrote with the other. I took it back of course. I knew she took it because she was getting annoyed by the tapping, but that didn't stop me from continuing to compose my music.

So I might like Casey, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy frustrating her every once and a while. I might actually enjoy sitting at the same table with my dearest stepsister.


	6. Suspicions

Suspicions

After school, I locked my door and pulled out an old notebook and a pencil. My plan was to make a list to help me figure out what I thought of Casey. It was all so confusing.

**Good Things about Casey**

She smells good

She's hot

As I started to erase the page in case somebody decided to sneak around my room, I heard my name being called from downstairs. I sighed in frustration and got up from my bed.

"Yeah?" I asked as I walked downstairs. I stayed at the end of the stairs, leaning on the railing.

"I just got a call from your English teacher today," Dad started, "He said you were late."

I felt my eyes bug out of my head. "I wasn't late," I practically shouted, "I was right on time! Te bell rang just as I stepped into the classroom."

"Exactly," Dad responded. "You're supposed to be in your seat or you're considered tardy. Usually Mr. Gordon doesn't count that against you, but you've been late so much this year he felt it was best if I knew."

I rolled my eyes. It was a stupid rule that almost every teacher had. Even the teachers who _did_ have the rule never actually stuck to it. I didn't think Mr. Gordon did, but I must be a special case.

"I make more of an effort to be in my chair tomorrow," I said and turned around to start up the stairs.

"No Derek," My dad stopped me. I turned back around to face him. "This is your last warning. If you get another detention or if your grades don't start improving you will be grounded."

I started to argue but my dad just sent me upstairs. I headed for my room, mumbling on the way.

As I started passing Casey's room, she stepped out and ran into me.

"Sorry," she said and started walking towards the stairs but I stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"What's wrong with you today?"

She turned to face me but she was looking at my hand on her arm. "Nothing's wrong."

"You're a terrible liar," I told her. I felt her try to pull her arm out of my grasp but I held on as tight as I could without hurting her.

"I'm just a little stressed," she said.

"One more time: you're a terrible liar."

She sighed and closed her eyes before finally looking me in the eye. "I know your secret," she whispered.

I felt my insides go cold. She couldn't know that I might like her. She just couldn't.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

Lizzie and Edwin came up the stairs so I pulled Casey into my room. "You know what I'm talking about," she said when I shut the door.

I shook my head, trying not to let my thoughts show on my face. She walked around me to stand by the door, as if I were about to attack her or something.

"You have feelings for me," she mumbled so fast I wouldn't have even heard it if I hadn't been dreading those words coming out of her mouth.

I decided to play it cool. I wouldn't let it show that I was fearing the same thing, so I laughed. "You've got it all wrong Case."

"What?"

"I don't have feelings for you. At least not any more than a sister," she still looked disbelieving so I continued when I should have just shut my mouth and kicked her out of my room. "I mean, just because there are times when I do stupid things to make it _look_ like I like you, doesn't mean I actually _do _like you."

That's when I noticed that her eyes weren't on me but were focused on something else on my bed. My stomach dropped as I turned to see what she was staring at. It was the Casey List that I had left on my bed for the whole freaking world to see.

"What's this?" she asked, taking a couple steps forward and picking up the paper. I grabbed it out of her hand, hopefully before she could read anything on it. Casey opened and closed her mouth a few times, her eyes wide, before she left my room. I sighed in relief. Then, I tore out the sheet of paper from the notebook, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the garbage can near the door.

777777777777777777777

Later that day, around five, Nora and dad told us that they were going out to eat, just them and Casey and I would be watching the kids. I didn't have a problem with. Casey wanted to go to Emily's but Nora told her to stay. Honestly, she doesn't have to baby-sit me.

Anyway, when they left, Edwin and Lizzie decided to watch a movie in the living room, Marti went to play with her toys, and Casey had homework to do. She always has homework. I swear, it's never ending. So, I was left alone, to find something of my own to do.

I ran up to my room and dug in my closet for a minute before I finally found what I was looking for: my water guns. I had a box of them, most of them little itty-bitty ones. I picked out the biggest one for myself, filled it with water, and carried the box downstairs.

"Edwin, Lizzie," I said to get their attention. They both turned around and I sprayed them with water. Lizzie gasped and grabbed a pillow to use as a shield and Edwin ran around the couch towards the water guns to get his own. I wasn't going to let him have them so easily. I kicked the box out of reach and stood in front of him as I sprayed him with as much water as I could before he finally found a way around me.

By that time, Lizzie had snuck around and filled up her _own_ water gun. She must have filled it up with ice water cause that stuff was cold. I turned my gun on her instead. Pretty soon, it was two against one: Me, against Lizzie and Edwin.

Sometime, Marti had come downstairs to fight on my side. I was thankful for that. We had all made our way to the kitchen by the time Casey came downstairs.

"What are you doing!" she practically yelled. I looked over at her but nobody else did, which gave them the advantage.

Casey seemed a little tense and uptight. I thought I would just loosen her up a bit so I turned my water gun on her. Edwin laughed when Casey shrieked and sprayed her as well. She just seemed to get more frustrated instead of calming down. Everyone stopped squirting their water guns to watch.

"Come on Case," I said, "Calm down, its fun. There's a bunch of water guns over there if you want to join us."

"Derek, there is no way I am going help you increase this mess!" I looked around the kitchen. Papers that were on the counter were now soaked, there was water dripping off the walls and the fridge, and there were puddles of water on the tile floor. Casey walked over to the fridge and lifted up the edge of a pink piece of paper. My eyes widened at the sight of a pink stain underneath.

"When will our parents be getting home?" I asked.

Casey looked at the clock on the wall. "About an hour."

"If we hurry, we can get this cleaned up. Edwin and Lizzie, you clean up the mess in the living room. Get a couple fans from the garage to dry the couch."

"You got the couch wet?" Casey asked. I ignored her as I walked into the laundry room to get towels and Lizzie and Edwin ran off to do as they were told. I tossed a towel to Casey and unfolded another to use it to clean up the water on the floor.

"You're helping?"

I looked up at her as I moved the towel around on the floor with my foot. "Don't get use to it."

I saw Casey smile a little as she unfolded her towel and started to dry the counters.

As I made my way around the kitchen, I noticed that the towel was getting wetter and it continued to move water around on the floor instead of soaking it up. I leaned down to pick it up when I heard a shriek and a thud from behind me. I turned around and saw Casey on the floor. I couldn't help it; I laughed.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I gave her a hand up.

"Except for the fact that now my back hurts and I'm wet, I'm just dandy."

I nodded. "Good. I'll be right back." I could feel her glare on the back of my neck as I threw the wet towel into the laundry room and grabbed another one. As I turned back into the kitchen, Casey sprayed me with my own water gun.

"Hey now," I said, wiping off my face and walking towards her to take my gun back, "You can't add to this mess. You said so yourself."

"I didn't add to the mess. I hit _you_ nothing else."

"Casey, give me the water gun."

"No."

I rolled my eyes. "_Please_ give me the water gun?"

She turned to start running and I followed her. She didn't get very far. Approximately two steps before I grabbed her arm. I had actually grabbed her arm in hopes of not falling because I slipped, but nobody else needs to know that. And anyway, it didn't keep me from falling. It just made her fall too.

I fell forward and she fell back. I'm pretty sure you can guess what happened. I landed on her. Our heads almost bonked but I caught mine just in time. I could tell she hit her head on the floor though.

"Owe," I heard her whisper silently. I had been looking away from her, trying to avoid eye contact but it didn't work out so well. When I _did_ look at her, I froze. We were extremely close. Probably closer than any other step siblings in the world have ever been. I saw her eyes widen when she looked at me it almost seemed like she was trying to become part of the floor. I glanced at her lips and that's when I realized that I had to get off her. I quickly scrambled to my feet, trying not to touch her on my way up.

"Sorry," I mumbled silently. She started to get up. I almost reached out to help her but decided against it. That's not something I would normally do and she already thought I might like her.

When Casey was standing straight, she said, "Why don't you go help Lizzie and Edwin. I can finish up in here."

I could take a hint. She wasn't comfortable around me. And who could blame her? If I was in her situation, I wouldn't be comfortable around me either.

**A/n** That's it for this chapter. Sorry it took so long. Leave a review. And thanks to all those people who took part in my test. Surprisingly, a _lot_ of people actually read the authors notes. Lol.


	7. Pointless Plan

Pointless Plan

I have a plan. Things won't be weird around Casey because I won't let them be. I'm going to pretend nothing weird has been happening. Everything will be normal. I'll make sure of that. When Dad and Nora say that they're going to go out with the kids and leave Casey and me alone, I will pretend to be alright with that.

That is easier said than done.

I think I jinxed it. I thought it and my dad decided to take the little kids out to Chuck-E-Cheese. They had just opened a new one in town and Mom wanted to take a camera for their first time there.

I sat in my chair and Casey sat on the couch while the five of them headed out the door.

"There's money on the table to order pizza and Derek," Dad said. I turned to look at him, "No parties."

"Got it," I told him, turning back to the TV. He was probably going to say something else but Marti yelled, "Let's go!"

The second the door closed behind them, knotted butterflies formed in my stomach. I flipped through the channels absentmindedly.

"Give me the remote," Casey said.

"No."

"Derek, you've gone through every channel about ten times by now."

"And I'm going to _keep_ going through them until I see something I like."

Since I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing, I barely noticed when she snatched the remote out of my hand. "Give that back," I demanded.

"No," was her simple reply. I was just going to let it slide and let her have the remote. But then I remembered my plan of pretending that nothing was different. So I did the first thing that came to mind without thinking of anything else first. That's what I would usually do. I jumped over the arm of the chair and the couch and pause for dramatic effect tackled Casey. She was either expecting that or a really quick thinker because she hid the remote behind her back. I ended up straddling her. I tried not to notice but it was hard.

"Give me the remote Casey," I said.

"You weren't even watching anything."

"That's not the point." She tried to push me off her but I held onto her wrists. Then, she pushed her hips up to try and push me off her. It didn't work. I wanted to get off her so badly but I wouldn't without the remote. So I let go of one of her wrists and slid it under her back to try and get the remote. I almost had it when she pushed onto my shoulder and rolled. That did it. I rolled off and hit my head on the coffee table.

"Oh my gosh," Casey said, sitting up quickly, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Are you alright?"

I rubbed the side of my head. I felt a little blood but didn't want to make a big deal out of it. "I'm fine Case." I said, putting a little laugh in my voice. Then I ran up the stairs and to the bathroom.

Getting a washcloth and soaking it with water, I pressed it against the side of my head. I shouldn't have used the white washcloth since it was now stained red. When the bleeding had stopped, I looked at it in the mirror. It was a small scrape, nothing to worry about. I was grateful I hadn't gotten a concussion.

I had to get the blood out of my hair so I decided to take a shower.

00LWD00

When I went back downstairs, Casey was on the phone in the kitchen. I walked past her towards the fridge. I was going to get out the jug of milk but we were out. I turned back to Casey just as she hung up the phone.

"Pizza's on its way," she said.

"Uh-huh," I replied, "That's great, but what do we have to drink?"

"Water."

I gave her a disgusted look. I was not going to drink the water that we had. Tap water was the only water in our house and it was gross.

"I ordered soda's with the pizza," she told me. I nodded and leaned up against the sink, facing her. We both just stayed there in silence for a while until I started tapping my foot to the beat of a song that was stuck in my head. "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro."

"Why do you do that?" Casey asked. I looked up at her.

"What?"

"That," she pointed to my foot. "You have to make noise all the time."

"Because," I answered, "It's too quiet if there's no noise."

"That makes sense," she said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and walked into the living room.

"Is your homework done?" Casey asked me out of the blue. I stopped walking and turned to look at her.

"No, but thanks for the concern mom."

"I'm still supposed to be tutoring you so if you fail, I will be blamed."

I almost gave in and decided to do my homework. But I wasn't supposed to like her. "Not my problem."

"Derek!"

"Casey!" I turned on the game cube and reached for the controller but Casey grabbed it. "Don't start again Case."

"Do your homework."

"If you're so worried about it, why don't _you_ do it for me?" I think she was pretty close to strangling me. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before just huffing and running up the stairs. I smiled. She never gave up that easily. That's when I realized she still had the game cube controller.

00LWD00

"_Casey_," I whispered spookily as I walked down the hallway towards her room. "_Caaaseeey_."

"Derek," Casey said as she opened the door, "Cut that out."

I quickly pushed my way into her room and looked around. "You hid it?" I asked when I didn't see the controller anywhere.

"Did you actually think I would let you have it that easily?" Casey pointed out, "Now get out of my room."

I turned to face her. "Will you please give me back the controller?" I asked, looking her in the eyes and putting on my best pleading face.

She stood up as straight as she could to make herself taller. "No."

I was expecting that. I gave her a dirty look and then turned around and sat on her bed. "That's fine. I'll just stay here until you give it to me."

00LWD00

(Casey's POV)

I glared at Derek, hoping that I could possibly burn a whole through his stomach or maybe his head. He was probably hoping I would yell and scream at him. I think he gets some weird pleasure out of annoying the crap out of me. So, I decided to pretend that it _didn't_ bother me.

"Whatever," I said. I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer.

As I sat there, typing up my English assignment I could feel his eyes on the back of my head and my mind went to the sheet of paper I saw in his room. I didn't get to read any of it, but I had seen my name. And the way he pulled the paper out of my hand so quickly made me very suspicious. I stared at the screen and suddenly felt very uncomfortable with him sitting in my room and staring at me the way he was. I couldn't concentrate on my paper so I closed it and opened an internet window. Emily was on MSN. I was about to IM her but realized Derek could probably see what I was doing on the screen. My conversations are _private_. I'm not saying I talk about anything embarrassing, but I don't want my stepbrother to see what I'm talking about to my best friend. What if _she _says something embarrassing? Or tells me something private and Derek reads it and he tells everybody at school? Then Emily will blame me for it and I won't have any friends.

_Maybe I should just calm down and turn off my computer_, I thought. So that's what I did. I turned off my computer and turned my chair around so I was facing Derek. He _was_ staring at me, just like I expected. I picked up my book and opened it to the marked place but couldn't pay attention to it. He was still staring at me and it was driving me insane.

I slammed my book down on my desk and stood up. "Will you get out of my room?"

"Am I bothering you Casey?"

I walked over to him and pulled on his arm to try and get him off my bed. He got off but he pulled me down to the floor with him. As he tried to get up, he ended up crawling half on top of me. I tried to get out from under him and we ended up all tangled together.

"Derek," I said in exasperation, "Stop moving."

"Just let me up," he said. He kept trying to push me down so he could stand up. I got kind of frustrated so I elbowed him in the chest and then pushed on his shoulders to get him to stop. As I started to push him towards the floor, he moved his leg which moved _my_ leg and made me fall. I fell on top of him and he kissed me.

That's right. Derek Venturi kissed me. My _stepbrother_ kissed me.

Can you say, "Ewe"?

I thought it was an accident so I didn't move at first. I figured he would. But he didn't. He just continued to gently kiss me. When I realized that our lips weren't just touching but he was actually making out with me, I pushed myself off him and stood up. He stood up too. I stared at him for a second or two before I spoke.

"Get out."

He just stared at me at first. Then, "Casey—"

"Don't," I interrupted, "Just get out of my room."

And for once he listened to me.

0LWD00

**A/n** I am sooooo sorry that this chapter took so long. My internet broke and I got writers block and a whole bunch of crap happened. Blame geometry. I got a stupid F in that stupid class! GR! Anyway… please don't hate me. Please.


	8. Who Kissed Who?

Who Kissed Who?

(Derek's POV)

Oops. I kissed Casey. Oops. I didn't mean too. It just kind of happened. Oops. She was coming at me. Apparently she was falling, but still. What was I suppose to think? I thought she was going to kiss me. I know that was really dumb to think. Right after our lips connected, I realized how dumb I was to think that. She's probably planning ways to kill me right now. Or just get me in trouble with Dad and Nora. Whichever is easiest.

Oh no. Something just occurred to me. What if she tells someone that I kissed her? What if she tells Dad and Nora? What will happen? Will they send me to a councilor? Or boot camp? Is there a special camp for teenagers who start to have feelings for their stepsiblings?

Casey and I are still the only ones home. After I left her room I went straight to mine where I started thinking all these thoughts. I got up from my bed and pressed my ear to the wall so I could try and listen to what she was doing. I didn't hear anything. Her room was completely silent. No music, talking, dancing, screaming, or yodeling. Just nothing.

I decided to go talk to her.

I know that seems like the dumbest thing in the world to do, but it's not. Trust me. I've already done the dumbest thing. It's called kissing my stepsister.

I started towards Casey's room and reached for the doorknob. I paused before I opened it. I just kissed her. Barging into her room like I usually do probably isn't the greatest idea. So I knocked.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And knocked again.

She wasn't opening the door so _I_ did.

"Go away Derek," Casey told me. She was lying on her bed facing the opposite wall.

"You seem upset," I mentioned, hoping to lighten the mood. It was a long shot, but what harm was it in trying?

"Can you blame me?" Casey snapped, "My brother just kissed me!"

"_Step_brother," I corrected. Then I got an idea. "And I didn't kiss you. _You_ kissed _me_."

She rolled over at that. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," I answered, "I didn't kiss you. I have no idea what you're talking about."

She stood up and looked at me in disbelief. "You're saying _I _kissed you?"

I pretended to think about for a second before nodding. "Yes."

"I can't believe you."

"Me?" I laughed, "I can't believe _you_. You kissed your own brother."

"_Step_brother," Casey echoed me from earlier, "And I didn't kiss you. _You_ kissed _me_."

"Are you mocking me?"

"Aagh," Casey started pushing me out the door.

"Hey," I said, holding up my hands, "I just came over to tell you that I would be willing to keep the whole thing a secret, as if it never happened."

Casey paused at that. "This never happened?"

I shook my head, surprised that it actually worked. I had just made it up on the spot.

She nodded. "Alright, I'd be willing to forget the fact that _you_ kissed me."

I rolled my eyes and sighed as if frustrated. "Good, so it's forgotten?"

"What's forgotten?"

I smiled. "Exactly."

Casey went to her room and I went to mine. When I closed my door I realized what had just happened. We had decided to forget the kiss ever happened. I swore silently under my breath. I don't think clearly when under pressure to make quick decisions.

00LWD00

(Monday)

"Hey Sam," I greeted as I walked up to my best friend. He didn't even look at me. He just closed his locker and walked off.

I watched him walk off. If people were watching me, it would have probably looked like I just got smacked in the face. That was not like Sam at all. I shook my head, pushing him to the back of my mind as I started opening my locker. As I was pulling out my notebook for English, Casey ran up to me.

"Derek," she sounded mad.

I calmly closed my locker before turning to look at her. "What?"

"What did you say to Emily?"

I stared at her for a second, trying to decide if this was some kind of joke before answering, "Nothing."

"Liar," she said, "She won't talk to me and I want to know what you did!"

Why was she blaming _me_? There are about fifty thousand—excuse the exaggeration—people in my school, and she thinks it's _my_ fault? I shrugged like I didn't know or care. "I didn't do anything," then I added, "Sam isn't talking to me either. I think I'll blame you."

The bell rang and Casey turned on her heel to start going to English. I followed since we had the same class. She shot me a dirty look when she noticed me walking next to her. "We have the same English class." She rolled her eyes and walked faster to try and get away from me.

It didn't work very well. I just walked faster too. Yes, it was just to annoy her. I love the face she makes when she's upset or annoyed at me. It's really funny and kind of cute.

We got to the English classroom. Casey pushed past me to be able to get into the classroom first. I followed her and looked over at our table. Sam and Emily were talking and not looking too happy. They saw Casey and me and quickly stopped whispering to each other and stared at their papers, pretending to be doing the work on the board. I rolled my eyes as Casey looked at me. I practically threw my notebook on the table and pulled out the chair so fast it made a squeaking sound on the floor.

"Mr. Venturi," Mr. Gordon said. I looked up at him as I sat down in my chair, "If you throw your things again I will have to give you detention."

I hate that man.

I tried to burn a hole through his skull using only the power of my eyes, but unfortunately it didn't work. He continued to write on the board without pause. I picked up my pencil and was about to start taking notes when I decided to do something completely irrelevant. I wrote a note. No, not to Sam. That would have been weird and made me seem kind of gay. I wrote it to Casey. She was my stepsister. Who would think anything of it?

I quickly jotted down a few words, telling her to write a note to Emily and ask her what was up. As I passed it to her, I saw Sam looked up at me. I looked back at him. He was staring at me suspiciously. Then I looked back at Casey. She had read the note and was shaking her head. I nodded my head and mouthed 'Do it'. She pointed at me and then at Sam.

It was my turn to shake my head.

'Why?' she mouthed.

"Because," I whispered as silently as I could, "Just do it."

Casey looked behind me and then resumed taking her notes. I turned around and saw Mr. Gordon staring at me with raised eyebrows.

"Casey and Derek," he said, "If you two want to talk so badly, you should go out into the hall to finish your conversation." I could tell that meant we had too. I snatched up my notebook and pencil and walked out, Casey following me.

"Thanks a lot _Derek_," she spit out my name like it was a bad word. I made faces at her behind her back.

"If you had just asked Emily what was wrong with her and Sam, then this wouldn't have happened."

"Stop trying to blame me for everything," she whispered. She almost seemed close to tears.

"Alright," I said quickly. I hate it when girls cry. "I'm sorry."

She leaned against the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. I sat next to her and leaned my head up against the wall. It was all quiet and I had nothing to say but I was extremely tired. I closed my eyes.

"Derek," Casey said. I opened my eyes again and looked at her.

"Casey."

"I didn't fall."

I stared at her, dumbfounded for a minute as I tried to figure out what she was talking about. "That's good," I finally said, "Because if you fell you could have gotten injured."

"No, I mean when we kissed. I didn't fall."

I knew it.

"I sort of did," she continued, "But I could have caught myself."

"So you really _did_ kiss me."

She laughed a little bit at that. "I guess." I smirked and leaned in to kiss her. Just as our lips were about to meet—

"Derek, wake up," Casey said, hitting me on the shoulder. "The bell just rang." My eyes reluctantly opened. We were still sitting outside Mr. Gordon's room. At least _I _was still sitting outside Mr. Gordon's room. Casey had gone off the second the bell rang. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and picked up my stuff to start for my locker.

00LWD00

"Sam!" I called, trying to catch up with him. Somehow, he had been able to avoid me all day and I wanted to talk to him.

I was about to catch up to him when someone called my name. I tried to ignore them but they grabbed onto my arm. I turned, ready to punch the guy in the face because I was getting so frustrated but was surprised when I saw Casey standing there. "Not now Case."

"We have to talk," she said. I shook my head.

"Not. Now. Case." I turned my back to her and started toward Sam again.

"I can't believe you told Emily," she whispered. I turned to look at her.

"What?"

She opened her mouth like she was going to tell me but stopped and looked around. It wasn't something she wanted to say in front of everybody else around us. "We can talk about it at home. Let's go."

I rolled my eyes and turned back in the direction Sam was. Only he wasn't there anymore.

"Fine," I told Casey, and we walked home together. When we got there, the first thing I noticed was that Dad and Nora weren't home yet.

The second the door closed behind me I demanded to know what was wrong with her.

"You told Emily," she said again.

"Yeah I got that," I answered, "But I would like to know what I told her."

"You told her that we kissed."

"What?" I snapped, "Did she tell you I told her?"

"Well… no," Casey said, "But who else could have told her? You're the only one who was there."

"Maybe that's why Sam isn't talking to me."

"Can you answer my question?"

"What?"

"Who. Else. Could. Have. Told. Her?"

"Who?" I knew who. I was just trying to avoid answering the question because I honestly didn't know and she probably wouldn't believe that.

"Emily!"

"Right," I paused, "I don't know."

I couldn't think of anything.

I realized that I was still standing right in front of the door. I took of my jacket and hung it up on the coat rack. "Let me know when you find out," I told Casey before going upstairs.

00LWD00

(Casey's POV)

This is a complete and total nightmare. Emily _knows_. I never thought anybody would find out. That was the plan. No one would know. It would be a little fall.

I tried to explain what happened to Emily. You can imagine how that went. I said I fell. She asked if he caught me with his lips. Unfortunately, that really _is_ what happened. Of course when I said that, Emily just scoffed and stormed off, close to tears. She's my best friend. Does she really think that I would kiss the boy that she likes? Especially when that boy is my brother.

Alright, I know he's my stepbrother, but I'm trying to make a point.

I have to figure out how Emily found out.

So I went to her house. If I called, she could just hang up on me. I stepped out of the house and nervously walked to her house. The walk there seemed to be a mile away. I was going over what to say in my head on the way. "How did you find out?" No, that's not gonna work. "I'm sorry." That would just make it seem like I _meant_ to kiss him. "He kissed me, not the other way around." Yeah right. Like _that's_ believable. Only the people who are guilty say that. "I don't know what you saw, but I would _never_ kiss Derek." Which is _kind of_ true. If I say that though, it will be like saying that we never kissed. This is going to be harder than I thought.

Before I knew it, I was ringing the doorbell and Emily's mother was answering. I smiled.

"Hello Mrs. Davis, is Emily home from school yet?"

"Yes, she just got back. Come on in."

"Thank you," I said as I wiped my feet and stepped into their house. I looked around and realized that they weren't joking when they said that they're house isn't always clean. Their usually spotless table was full of clutter. Cups, mail, paper, books. Toys cars and stuffed animals were covering the living room floor.

"She's upstairs in her room," Mrs. Davis said. I smiled again and went upstairs to Emily's room.

When I knocked, I heard a quiet, "Not now."

I opened the door anyway. I walked into her messy room and she looked up at me from the bed.

"I can't believe you would actually come here after what you did."

"Em," I started, "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean too. It all kind of happened kind of fast and if it helps, I stopped the kiss after about 1.5 seconds." Emily rolled her eyes. "You're my best friend. Why would I kiss the boy I _know_ you've liked for years?"

"I don't know Casey. Why don't tell me?"

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "How did you find out?"

"You had invited me over earlier that day, remember? You said that your parents were going out with the kids and I could come over whenever I wanted too. So I did. And when nobody answered when I knocked, I got kind of worried and came in. On my way upstairs, I heard a crash. Little did I know that you and Derek would be making out on the floor."

"I wasn't making out with him!" I argued.

"How can you say that?" Emily asked, standing up from her spot on the bed. "I _saw_ you. You were on top of him on the floor."

I opened my mouth to explain the whole thing but Emily pushed me out of her bedroom and closed the door.

00LWD00

**A/n** This one is longer, so I hope it makes up for the wait. Tell me what you think of this chapter.


	9. Are You Perspiring From the Irony?

**Are You Perspiring From the Irony?**

I was sitting in my room, just doing my homework, minding my own business and trying to concentrate on the Algebra homework in front of me instead of on the chicken cordon bleu my dad was cooking downstairs when Casey barged into my room. Not knocking or anything.

"Because of you, my _only friend_ is mad at me!"

"How is it my fault?" I asked, bored. I put my books to the side, grateful for the distraction.

"If you hadn't kissed me then none of this would be happening!"

"Keep it down," I told her, "And I wouldn't have even been in your room if you hadn't taken the controller."

"Well I wouldn't have had to take it if you would study when you were supposed too."

I didn't answer. You can't argue with logic like that.

"You need to go over there and tell her what _really _happened: that you kissed me and not the other way around."

"No."

Casey froze, looking close to tears. I almost took a step back but I couldn't let her see my discomfort. I just gave her a pitying look. "Sorry Case, but do you know how that would make me look?" Yes, I do like Casey. But I can't just drop everything for her. Especially when I don't even know if she likes me back.

Her look turned from sad disbelief to anger in a second.

"I _hate_ you!" And with that she stomped out of my room, slamming the door behind her.

Her words stung. She had said it before, but it was never said with that much venom in her voice. For once it actually did seem like she hated me and I felt hurt by it. Maybe I had really screwed up this time.

Oooooooooooooooo

Casey didn't talk to me at all the next day. English class was very awkward. I kept glancing at Casey, who wouldn't look at me. Then when I saw Sam or Emily watching me watch Casey I would quickly look away. I don't think Casey looked up from her paper at all.

We were supposed to be writing a short story. Ten pages long, typed. Ten pages typed doesn't seem much like a _short_ story to me, but whatever. We had the day to write the rough draft, or at least part of it. Mr. Gordon said he didn't want us rushing it, so he gave us two seeks to write the story. Casey was on her second page, hand flying over the paper. I looked down at my own notebook. I hadn't written anything yet. There weren't any story lines coming to mind.

Emily was writing hers, occasionally tapping her pencil on her chin before writing again. Sam had half a page written, never pausing but writing kind of slowly.

I looked back at my paper again. We could write about _anything_.

Finally a story came to me and I started writing.

Ten minutes before class ended Mr. Gordon told us to switch with someone so they could make corrections on what we have so far. Emily looked at me and offered me her paper. I handed my notebook over.

Emily's story was about a girl whose boyfriend was on the hockey team and the girl got really into the sport. Emily was actually a really good writer and the story seemed interesting. There were minimal corrections needed—that I found—in her story. When I got mine back, the page wasn't covered in purple ink, but had several mistakes on it. Same was the last one still reading. Casey's story must have been at least halfway done.

When that class was finally over, I realized that it was still morning. That meant six more classes to go before I could go home.

The day dragged on forever, but gave me a lot of time to think.

There had been a few too many times that would suggest that I liked Casey. But when I thought about it, there were quiet a few times when it seemed like Casey liked me too. When she barged into my room right as I was changing, for example. Out of all that time I was going to be in my room and she came in when I was right in the middle of changing my shirt. And when I kissed her, she didn't pull away at first. And why had she fallen on me like that? That couldn't have been a coincidence either, right? A completely random fall gave me the perfect opportunity to kiss her. And I grabbed the opportunity quickly. As they said in Signs, there are no coincidences.

Finally, at the end of the day, I raced home, only to be disappointed that everyone had gotten home. I was hoping to talk to Casey without worrying about everyone else being around. No such luck. And Casey didn't even get home till about an hour after school ended. The second I heard her bedroom door close and her music start, I left my spot at my computer and went to talk to Casey.

"Get out," she said simply when she saw it was me. I know a lot of people would have taken that as the first hint that their theory was incorrect, but I'm not a lot of people.

I shook my head, "No."

She looked at me angrily and I closed the door.

"I don't think you really hate me. I think you really do like me but since I'm your step-brother you won't admit it."

"Why would you think that?" she asked, "There has been nothing to suggest that I like you at all."

"Because that's how it's supposed to work. When one person starts to like someone, then the other person likes them back at the same time."

Casey looked at me almost pityingly. "This isn't a fairy tale Derek."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, I had no idea." I took a few steps toward her so if I wanted to I could touch her. She started to take a step back but hit her desk. "I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you have no feelings for me."

She looked straight into my eyes and said without hesitation, "I don't have feelings for you."

At first her words felt like a knife until I realized how that blinking thing almost never works. I studied her face for a minute before deciding that I didn't believe her. There was just something about her that made me think she was lying.

So I kissed her. I grabbed her arms and pressed my lips hard to hers. I could feel her trying to back up, but the desk was still behind her. When she realized that I wasn't going to let her go she pushed on my chest and I took a step or two back.

"Why don't you get it?" Casey screamed at me, "I _don't_ like you! I hate you!" And with that she pushed me. I tried to take a step back, but tripped over my feet and fell to the ground. Casey just stared at me with hate in her eyes and I stood up quickly. "Get out," she hissed at me. I opened my mouth, but decided I didn't want to say anything to her, so I slammed her door on the way out.

00CASEY00

I winced at the loud bang. The look Derek had given me before he left my room stunned me. It was a mixture of hurt and hate. It made me feel terrible about what I had said and I wanted to go apologize. But I knew I couldn't because what I said was the truth. Well, sort of. I didn't have feelings for him, but I didn't _hate _him either. I was just extremely upset at him. Unlike Derek I only had one good friend. And because of Derek she wasn't talking to me. And then he tries to tell me how I feel? I don't think so. And I know he usually gets what he wants, but this is real life, not some TV show. Things don't always work out for the main character. I'm not saying that Derek is the main character of this story I'm just trying to make a point.

God, why are you trying to twist my words so much?

Anyway, after Derek left I covered my mouth with my hand and slowly sat down on my chair. That was the second kiss I had with my step-brother. That can't be normal. It isn't normal, is it? Do you see step-siblings even on TV or movies that date?

…Don't answer that.

Something I thought never would had happen had happened. I was wishing things were back to normal. With Derek pulling pranks on me all the time and we would fight. That was preferable to Derek trying to tell me I liked him.

Maybe he just hasn't been going out with anybody lately. He's been bored and since I'm currently the girl his age he sees the most he thinks he likes me. But he doesn't. He just needs to date someone else. This will all blow over soon.

000000

I didn't see Emily in the cafeteria. I looked around, hoping to see someone I knew that I could sit with. The only person was Derek, and there was no way I was going to sit with him.

So I walked up to a table that was for the most part, empty. There was only one girl sitting there and when I got closer I instantly recognized her from my math class. She was a really smart girl. Her name was Miranda Thompson. She had blonde hair that was always up in a pony tail, tied back with a rubber band. She wore oval glasses and no make-up. I never saw her hanging out with anybody, but she always had a book with her.

"Can I sit with you?" I asked politely.

She looked up and I could see the shock on her face. "Uh… sure," she said. I smiled at her and sat down. She just stared at me for a few moments before asking, "Aren't you Derek Venturi's stepbrother?"

I tried not to grimace. "Yeah, I am."

She glanced behind me before quickly looking down at her food. I turned to see Derek staring at me from across the room. When our eyes met he smirked at me and turned to Sam. I rolled my eyes and turned to see Miranda staring at Derek the same way _Emily_ stares at Derek.

At the thought of Emily I looked around for her again. I saw her sitting by the window with some friends. She looked over at me and frowned. That was just fine. I didn't need her. And I was going to prove that to Emily.

"Miranda would you like to come over after school today? We could do our homework."

She looked slightly excited about that. "Sure, I would love too. Is Derek going to be there?"

"Of course, he lives there."

I could see her trying to force herself not to smile.

000000

I hung my coat on the coat tree and Miranda was doing the same when Derek came barreling into the house. He bumped into Miranda—nearly knocking her down—and ran straight into me. I was thrown back against the wall with him inches away from me. I shoved him. "Watch where you're going," I snapped.

"I was," he answered with a smirk. I rolled my eyes as he ran up the stairs.

"Sorry about him," I said to Miranda, leading her upstairs.

"It's alright," she said instantly.

"You like Derek, don't you?" I asked when we were both my room.

Miranda turned red and looked down at her shoes. "Yeah," she admitted quietly.

"Don't stare at your shoes, Derek hates that," I said, suddenly getting an idea. She instantly looked up at me, a little confused. "And… do you mind if I play with your hair a little bit?"

She shook her head. "Not at all, but why."

I shrugged. "I was just thinking that maybe I could help you get Derek's attention." She smiled gratefully.

"Thank you."

"No, no, thank _you_," I said. Her brows furrowed, but I just said, "Sit here," and patted the seat in front of my vanity. She sat facing the mirror. I pulled at the rubber band. It got caught a couple times and I saw her wince in the mirror but she didn't make a sound. Finally her hair came loose, falling around her shoulders. I brushed it out for her, getting out the few knots. The only flaw in her hair was the crease where the elastic had been holding it up.

"I love your hair," Casey said as she plugged the curling iron into the wall.

000000

I knocked on Derek's door. He answered it, looking frustrated until he saw me. Then he seemed to perk up a bit. Ugh.

"Derek," I said, "I don't think you've met Miranda, have you?"

He looked slightly confused. "What?"

"She's in my math class," I explained, stepping back so he could see her. I had curled her hair slightly and put a thin layer of make-up on her. She looked really good. The little bit of green eye liner made her eyes stick out even though she still had to wear her glasses and the thin layer of foundation hid any blemishes, making her skin look damn close to perfect.

Miranda looked down at her feet for a second before looking up again and straight at Derek.

"Hey," he said, leaning up against the doorframe and giving Miranda one of his 'Derek' smirks. My plan was working out perfectly. There was just one flaw.

I could practically feel my eyes turning green.

00**A/n**00

Yes, I know it's been for ever since my last update. I just couldn't seem to write this chapter. I swear I started it and then started over about ten thousand times. I almost just abandoned it. But I thought about it after a while and decided that I still wanted to write this story.

Uh… Happy Late New Year.


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